CampEx

 The NASA Cloud, Aerosol and Monsoon Processes Philippines Experiment (CAMP²Ex) was staged from Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. The project is a response to the need to deconvolute the fields of tropical meteorology and aerosol science at the meso-b to cloud level. The goals of CAMP²Ex were to:

Examine how aerosol particle concentration and composition affect the optical and microphysical properties of shallow cumulous congestus clouds; and how, ultimately, these effects relate to the transition from shallower to deeper convection.

Study how spatially inhomogeneous and changing aerosol and cloud fields impact three-dimensional heating rates and fluxes, and determine the extent to which three dimensional effects may feedback into the evolution of the aerosol, cloud, and precipitation fields.

Determine the meteorological features that are the most influential in regulating the distribution of aerosol particles throughout the regional atmosphere and, ultimately, aerosol lifecycle, and ascertain the extent to which aerosol-cloud interactions studies are confounded and/or modulated by co-varying meteorology.

The NASA Earth Science Division P-3 research aircraft and the SPEC, Inc. Lear Jet 35A flew 12 missions over the Philippine and South China Seas during the period 20 August to 10 October 2019.  The aircraft operated in close coordination studying the effects of aerosols on tropical cumulus clouds in clean and polluted atmospheres. The Learjet focused on in situ measurements of cloud-particle microphysics and secondary ice production while the P-3 made measurements of aerosols and used remote sensors to retrieve cloud properties.